


Matched

by NotADragon



Series: Two Silver Lines [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Choose Your Own Adventure, Choose Your Own Ending, F/M, Fluff, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-07-25 11:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16196528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotADragon/pseuds/NotADragon
Summary: The choose your own adventure version of Marked.**Cannot be read without reading Marked first**Each chapter here changes a chapter and the timeline of Marked. If you are content with Marked, leave this alone and live in peace. If you think they should have seen their marks sooner or later then they did, find your alternate reality here.





	1. 2010

**Author's Note:**

> If you have not read Marked, nothing here will make any sense. It also may spoiler things, but mostly it will just make no sense. Each chapter here corresponds to a chapter of Marked changing when and how the soulmate marks are revealed. Timing is everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vancouver 2010 - This chapter picks up at the exact end of Chapter 3 in Marked.

He let his fingers roam over her arm band. His thumb stroked down the center, right over where she knew her maple leaf was. Two fingers traced the middle around her arm, right over top of the bracelet lines he didn’t know about. “We’re the best,” he replied softly.

The whiskey was already working its way into Tessa’s system. It warmed her from the inside out, mixing with the glow of gold. God, she really was a lightweight. She let her head drop heavily onto Scott’s shoulder and he pulled her closer into his side. “We are,” she agreed.

Content to bask in the moment, she let her eyes drift shut. This moment was a respite, but it was sure to not last long. There were interviews to give, hockey matches to watch, family to squeeze in, and then back to training for Turin. The night was already getting late. But they still had a few hours. A few moments that were just for them.

Despite everything it had taken them to get to this moment – the moving, the moving again, the surgery, the separation, the continued pain, even the media earlier in the day – there wasn’t a single thing she would’ve changed. It felt, for once, like perfection. Or pretty damn close.

It could have all been a dream. Except she knew it would all be there if she opened her eyes. The Canada gear. The medals – their gold medals. And the boy (man, almost) she did it all with. The boy whose shoulder served as a comfy pillow. Whose body heat was keeping her exhausted, over-extended self from shivering. Whose fingers she could just barely feel through her armband, tracing the points of her maple leaf. Tracing the –

Bolting upright, the whiskey nearly sloshed out of the side of her tumbler. He didn’t let go until she rolled her shoulders, forcing his hand off as she tuned fully towards him.

“What the hell Scott?” Eyes wide, she could almost feel her face going pale with shock.

His eyebrows knitted together, concerned. Concerned and uncertain. “Tess?”

“What the hell Scott?” she repeated, unable to articulate anything further.

Reaching back, he set his glass on the window sill behind him. “Come on, Tess. Don’t freak out.”

A hollow laugh came out before she could stop it. He recoiled, like it physically struck him. “Don’t freak out? How am I supposed to not freak out right now?” Freaking out was the only appropriate response. He had traced her mark. He had _seen_ her mark. But she’d never shown him. She scooted farther away on the bed, putting more space between them.

“Maybe because it’s me? Maybe you owe me just that much? Today, at least.”

Her mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe how unfair he was being, trying to use the ‘it’s just us’ card to get out of jail free. That worked for almost everything. But not for this. Not for her mark.

“How do you know?” She reached for an explanation of how he could know what her mark looked like without having seen it, but came up blank. Not that she was thinking particularly clearly.

“I’ve always known.”

“You’ve always known?” she echoed in disbelief. It was a fact, the way he stated it. But it made no sense. He couldn’t have ‘always known’ anything about her mark.

“Why are you acting like this is some big mystery?”

The way he was pulling on his hair, he wasn’t likely to have much left for long. Tessa hadn’t seen him this exasperated in years. At least, not directed at her. It was one of the things they had worked on since starting therapy last year.

She racked her brain, trying to come up with a time he could have seen it, but she never took her arm band off. Only at home, alone. “Just tell me when you saw it.” Her fingers flexed at her side in irritation. “You’ve obviously seen my mark.”

“Of course not.” He spat the words at her. From exasperated to hostile in six seconds flat. “When the hell would I have seen your mark Tess? It’s not like you’ve ever shown me.”

“It’s not like you’ve ever shown me yours!” she shot back.

He slammed him hands against his knees. “You’ve never asked, Tess! You never wanted to see it. Not when I got it. Not when you got yours. And never since. So why would I have forced it on you?”

She was starting to lose track of what they were even fighting about. She wasn’t even positive if they were having the same fight anymore. If they had even started out having the same fight. At a loss, she stopped. Just stopped. The glass she still held was heavy in her hand, so she drained it. By the time she’d put it down, empty, he had turned away from her.

“I know alright?” He spoke to the wall, not her. “I know. I’m sorry. You’ve made yourself plenty clear in the past few years. I get it. You don’t care about them. But tonight. God, just tonight, after everything, I thought…” As he searched for the words, refusing to make eye contact, he deflated. Frustration dissipated, replaced with exhaustion as he curled in on himself. “I don’t know what I thought, okay? I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“What?” She breathed out the words so quietly, she wasn’t sure he actually heard them. He didn’t look up, didn’t see the utter confusion painted on her face. They were apparently flashing through the many moods of Scott Moir at rapid pace tonight. To think that Tessa had thought he was levelling out with age. She didn’t know how she could have been so wrong given the current display. Even worse, she had entirely lost the train of thought he was following. It didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t making any sense.   

“I won’t happen again.” He pulled his knees tighter against his chest. It made him look young. Vulnerable. “Just forget it. Please.”

“Scott.”

In spite of everything, he could never ignore her. His eyes flashed up to meet hers before they flicked past to stare at the dresser behind her. As frustrated as she was, she needed to be the calm one. The stable one. Or they would never get anywhere.

“Scott.” Tentative, she placed one hand on his knee, over his, drawing him to her. “What the hell are you talking about?” For the first time in the conversation, she aimed for soft instead of accusatory.

“Our marks.” It was a complete statement, like he expected her to fully know what it meant.

“ _Our_ marks?” She dragged the pronoun out into two syllables for emphasis.

“Yeah.”

He had traced her mark. She had only been talking about _her_ mark. But he was talking about their marks. About his too. Which had nothing to do with anything, unless… The pieces clicked together in her mind. No. It couldn’t be. But there was no other way.

“You’ve never seen my mark.”

He shook his head, reaffirming his earlier statement that she hadn’t believed. But that meant…

“And you know what it looks like anyways.”

That wasn’t a question either, but he nodded anyways.

“You think…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t put that thought out into the world.

“Of course.” He said it as confidently as if they were talking about the sky being blue. As if it was that simple.

Tessa blinked back tears as her brain processed and reprocessed everything. She ran through it again and again, but kept ending up at the same place. He thought… and he knew about her… that meant he was right. He was right.

A gentle caress of her arm brought her back to reality, eyes refocusing on the man in front of her.

“T?” He brushed a stray tear off her cheek. His own eyes were red and watery, threatening to spill over. “Just because you ignore it doesn’t make it less true. But I won’t bring it up again, okay? Please don’t cry.”

She tried to speak, to get some clarification, some confirmation, but the words escaped her. She couldn’t say it. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. There was another way though.

One hand closed around his arm band, but she kept her eyes glued to his. Silently, she asked permission. Her heart raced, the audible pounding in her ears the only thing she could hear. He didn’t stop her as she slowly dragged the arm band off and down to his wrist. But she couldn’t look.

Scott curled his left hand around the back of her neck, drawing her closer to him. Forehead to forehead, the most familiar eyes became the only thing in her field of vision.

“It’s okay Tess,” he crooned. “Just look.”

With a deep breath in, she closed her eyes and turned her head, still pressed against him. It was right there when she opened her eyes. Her mark. But it wasn’t her arm.

She flung her arms around him with enough force to knock him backwards on the bed. She fell with him, collapsing on top of him, burying her head against his chest.

When it was clear Tessa wasn’t moving anytime soon, Scott carefully shifted under her to rearrange them both to lie more comfortably on narrow bed. While she balled her fists up in his shirt, he slowly stroked her hair. His slow and steady breaths were clearly inviting her to match them, but she just couldn’t.

“It’s still just us,” he murmured as he cradled her close. “You don’t have to decide anything today or even tomorrow. We can pretend tonight never happened. Whatever you want. Just please, Tess, please be okay. I need us to be okay.”

She tilted her face up and out of his shirt so she could actually be heard. “We can’t pretend. This changes everything.”

“It doesn’t have to,” he tried to insist.

“Of course it does. We match Scott. We’re soulmates.”

The word hung thick in the air between them. Soulmates. Scott was her soulmate.

And he had known somehow. This whole time, their whole lives, they had always belonged to each other. They had made that choice themselves countless times, and the universe agreed.

It should have been the best moment of Tessa’s life – or at the very least, the second best behind their hours old gold – but her tears were welling up again.

“C’mon T. It can’t be that bad to be tied to me.” If Tessa had been less wrapped up in her own thoughts, she would have been devastated by his cracking voice and the trembling of his hands as they continued to brush through her hair. But the inaccuracy of his words was what registered with her. ‘Tied’ was not accurate. The marks didn’t assure them of anything. He had already proven that.

“But you left me.” And ugly sobbed ripped from her throat with the words. She rolled off him towards the wall and wept. Tears started soaking the comforter before Scott could even react.  

Barely more than a year ago, she had been at home, in London, recovering and completely terrified. But the pain and uncertainly she had suffered before and after the surgery were nothing compared to the all-encompassing ache of loneliness from the most pointed absence during that time. He hadn’t been there. He had left her. She had been alone.

The bed creaked as he rolled onto his side behind her. Tentatively, he place on hand on her hip. When she didn’t flinch or shy away, he curled himself around her, drawing her back to him. He couldn’t see her face, but her sobs wracked through both their bodies and echoed through the room.

He tucked his chin over her shoulder, whispering right against her ear. “I’m here now, T. I’m here. I’m not leaving ever again. Not unless you want me to.”

She pinned his arms with her own, making it impossible for him to let go. Words were not possible yet as she cried, but it was the same message. She would never want him to leave. Never.

Time passed without note as she cried herself out. Patiently, Scott held her, waiting for her to be ready. Once the sobs stopped and her breathing calmed, she turned in his arms. She braced herself against his chest to keep back just far enough that their noses wouldn’t bump together.

“You left me.” It sounded just as pathetic to her the second time she said it. Fuck, she needed him so much. And he had left.

He clutched her closer in response, fingertips digging into her back and shoulder, emphasizing the difference between then and now.

She nodded. Yeah, he was here now. And that counted for a lot.

“Tess, I’m sorry. You know I’m so sorry. I’ll never stop being sorry. But I thought we were past this?” His confusion was sincere, gently probing to figure out where she was coming from. “You said you were past this.”

She cleared her throat but the words still came out hoarse. “That was before I knew. It was bad enough that you left. But now, to find out my soulmate left me? At the worst time in my life. It’s worse.”

“This confirmation,” he titled his head towards his mark, “isn’t the same as just finding out. You knew we were soulmates.”

“No Scott.” The tears not yet dry on her cheeks. Angrily, she swiped at them with the heel of her hand. “I obviously didn’t fucking know. Having a wishful teenaged fantasy doesn’t make something come true. How the hell would I have known?”

Shoulders creeping up towards his ears, he gaped at her in growing horror. “Oh my god. You didn’t know.” One hand came up to cover his mouth, but it didn’t muffle the string of curses that followed.

“Fuck. I fucked up. Oh fuck. Goddammit, I fucked everything up. I assumed. And I was fucking wrong. Fucking hell.”

He was spiralling. Tessa knew she needed to stop him. They needed to sort this out. She peeled his hand off his face and interlocked their fingers, grounding him to her.

“How would I have known?” she asked again. “How did you know?”

“I knew the day I got it. As soon as I saw it. It’s pretty obviously _our_ mark.”

She shook her head. “It’s really not. There is a whole country full of people who I could see having maple leafs. We have a whole dorm of athletes here who could have similar marks.”

“No,” he insisted. Scott sat upright, pulling her with him. He pulled their joined hands up against his heart so his mark was between them. She watched as he traced the silver lines around his arm. “They’re like the ice. They look like the marks from our blades on the ice. Just like when we skate laps around the rink. Together, parallel, in perfect unison.”

The revelation was deserving of tears, but Tessa was all tapped out. In awe, she brushed his lines herself, following them around his bicep. He was right. Again.

“I never realized,” she reiterated unnecessarily.

He settled himself back against the wall and she tucked herself in against his side, mirroring how they had started this whole thing.

“The day I got mine, I kind of thought you would ask to see it.” She turned her face up to watch him as he spoke. “You didn’t, but that was fine. I just had to wait until you got yours. It never crossed my mind that you wouldn’t realize it. Literally never. So I was just waiting for the morning when you would call and tell me you got it.

“But you never called. You hid it from me. You literally recoiled at the mere thought of showing it to me. Our mark. Without discussion, my soulmate totally rejected me. You, Tess. My best friend. My partner. I thought you knew, but didn’t want me.

“When we fought before the surgery, I thought it was you pushing me away again. And I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take the constant rejection every day that you didn’t acknowledge what we were. And I was young and stupid. So stupid. But I really thought you knew and were still pushing me away. And that was your right. You don’t have to want to be with me. So I gave you space. I left you. And being away while I knew you were suffering was even worse than being rejected daily.”

It took all her self-restraint to not cut him off. She badly wanted to correct him, but he just kept going, seeming to need to get it all out. He was processing years of mistakes in real-time as he spoke. She gave him what little quiet comfort she could as he spoke – a hand on his thigh, a squeeze of his hand – but let him talk.

“It was the worst mistake I’ve ever made. Really. But I thought it was what you wanted, and I realized way too late how wrong I was. Obviously, I wrecked everything beyond repair. God, I’m such a jackass. But anything Tess, anything really, anything at all that you want, I’ll do it. I didn’t mean to bring any of this up tonight, I just couldn’t help myself after today. After everything. But whatever you want. I’ll be your partner, your friend as long as you want. That’s enough, really. I’m just thrilled you haven’t given up on me entirely yet. Please, don’t feel like you owe me anything now. You don’t. You never have.”

The picture he painted of his perspective of the past few years was so different from anything she had thought was going on. It was going to take some time for it all sink in. To digest. To really understand. But immediately, Tessa needed to fix the present before she could ponder the past. Scott’s insecurities were heartbreaking. They blew her own out of the water.

There was so much to cover, but she had to start somewhere. She caressed his cheek, encouraging him to turn towards her finally. Guarded, hurt, and lost, he seemed almost unreachable to her. But she had to reach him.

“We’re soulmates. I don’t want to ignore that. Not for a minute.”

The slightest hint of hope flashed in his eyes and she smiled in response. God, it felt like so long since she had last smiled, but it probably hadn’t even been an hour. In return, she offered him her arm. A pointed look made sure he understood what she was offering.

Slowly, so slowly, he pulled her arm band down, revealing the second copy of their mark. Swivelling her head back and forth, she took in the sight. A perfect match.

He lifted her arm higher, meeting it halfway so his lips pressed against the leaf.

Scott lingered, and she waited until he sat back and had his full attention. She wasn’t done correcting him yet.

“I love you.”

She did. She loved him. She had always loved him. And there had been times she thought she was in love with him. And more recently, she may have tried to seal off her heart to keep it from being broken again. But she loved him. That part was simple and absolute.

“I love you too.”

They came together in unison, clinging to each other, trying to put everything into one hug.

“We’ll figure it out,” she whispered. “We’ll figure everything out. But we always have each other, okay?”

“You can have me forever, if you want me that long.”

She didn’t hesitate. “I do. That’s exactly how long I want.”

When they pulled back, she rearranged herself to sit properly in his lap, arms wrapped loosely around his neck. He brushed her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “You make me happier than anyone Tess. You’re more important to me. That’s what the marks symbolize to me. How important you are to me. But I guess that also means we can hurt each other too, more than anyone else. I think that’s what it is to be soulmates maybe. To be _more_.”

Tessa hummed in agreement. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”

They spoke softly. Apologizing, correcting, processing, apologizing some more. The exhaustion of the long day and longer night was quickly setting in. They couldn’t work through years of misunderstandings in one conversation. The ache in her legs, previously dulled by the night’s revelations, was becoming more prominent again. A yawn finally broke free, and Tessa knew she had to give in.

“Will you stay here with me tonight?”

 

 

She woke not to her alarm, but to kisses pressed again and again to her arm. Pulling both the comforter and man closer to her, she resisted the urge to get up. She wasn’t ready to open her eyes. Snuggling close, she tried to absorb his warmth.

“Morning love.” The new nickname sent goosebumps down her arms. “We have interviews.”

“K.” She bunched up his t-shirt in her fists making no move towards getting up. Her brain gradually started to kick into gear, sorting out the logistics of what he had said. “Can we do them in last night’s clothes? Then I don’t have to get dressed and we can just stay here a few more minutes.”

His touch lightly trailed up and down her back, brushing her bare skin past the edge of her shirt. “I think our sponsors may not appreciate the rumpled look, but we can do whatever you want T.”

Without overthinking it, she kissed him. Her lips brushed lightly over his before parting slightly. They fit perfectly together, like she always knew they would.

Just one kiss and then she pulled back, pushing herself up, bracing herself for the day ahead. She offered him her hand and it too fit perfectly in his.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

One step at a time. They would get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How the hell did I just write 3000 words of angst, all on a twin bed?
> 
> Hi. I hope you don't feel like I'm wrecking Marked. I adore Marked. It is the story I wanted to tell and I think it should stand exactly as it is. However, all these other stories I could have told have been floating around in my head. If this ain't you thing, I completely understand. There are plenty of stories that I would never want to see altered. I get it. Ignore this and carry on. xoxo
> 
> Anyways, I hope if you chose to read this far that you enjoyed what happens when people are young but not naive and maybe not quite ready for their lives to change. This is the most angst I have ever written and I don't think any other timeline would be quite as emotional (probably). I'm not going to rewrite the entire fic each time, so each chapter here will be it's own complete alternate reality. If you have particular chapters (or even more specific parts I suppose) of Marked where you would like to have seen the reveal happen, let me know. <3
> 
> I can be yelled at here in comments or on tumblr: https://obviouslynotadragon.tumblr.com/


	2. 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept for this chapter was suggested by peacefulboo, who is clearly brilliant and I'm ashamed I didn't think of it myself. It's a reference to Chapter 9 of Marked. However, she didn't choose when I should set this, so I chose between Chapter 4 and 5 of Marked, leaving us right in the middle of angst land (aka London 2014). Sorry.

This wasn’t where Tessa had planned on ending up. In no way, big or small, could she have predicted this four years ago. Four years ago, she and Scott had been on top of the world. Drunk on gold and a splash of whiskey, they had planned: World Champions and then maybe Olympic Champions again. She never would have been able to guess that they would lose. Not once. Not twice. But again and again, silver after silver, until it destroyed them. It destroyed her. She’d done everything – surgeries, physio, delaying school – and it was all for nothing. For those stupid silver medals that haunted her which were as good as nothing. At least that’s how it felt sitting on her mother’s living room floor, surrounded by memories of better times. This was not where she wanted to be. But it was and she just had to go with it.

She hadn’t intended on spending her day on the plush white rug surrounded by photo albums. But she hadn’t left her house since arriving home from Russia four days ago and her family was concerned. She had been dragged out of her own house, told that she needed to see the sun. Eat. Move. Generally stop moping around. The most they could get her to agree to was hiding out at Kate’s house instead of her own. An afternoon of Audrey Hepburn movies had, unsurprisingly, failed to cheer her up (she had tried it herself on the first day back). Kate already had a dinner scheduled for that night, and the promise of a delicious dessert menu failed to entice Tessa to join her. Instead, she stayed behind, meandering aimlessly around her own mother’s home. She had stumbled upon the pile of photo albums after randomly opening and closing every cupboard in the house. Now, they were fanned out on the floor around her.

The first couple albums didn’t include Tessa at all, just her brothers and then eventually Jordan. A white and pink album was the first in which she showed up as a happy, round baby. She was always in someone’s arms, the result of being the true baby of the family. It was hard to tell from the photos if her feet ever touched the ground in the first two years of her life. Her favourite was one with little Jordan, barely managing to hold her squirming, toddler sister up for the photo on Christmas morning.

Smiling softly to herself, she picked up the next album. The smile fell away as soon as she opened it. Skating photos. Her and Scott. She couldn’t look at those. Quickly, she dropped the album, pushing it as far away as she could without standing.

They hadn’t spoken since they had left the London airport with their respective families. Four days. It was a new record. Not a single text exchanged. She knew the last time they had gone this long – 2008. But it was just too hard. And there was nothing left to say. They had struggled through the past few years together, barely holding it together, yet holding on to each other when they had no one left. But that was done now. They had nothing left to work for. Nothing to tie them together anymore. And Tessa was exhausted. Exhausted from everything and everyone, including Scott. She needed a break. She needed to live without him for once in her life and figure out who the hell she was on her own. As soon as they stopped skating shows, that was how she was going to have to live the rest of her life. So she needed to figure it out. Soon. And that wasn’t going to happen if she spent her time reminiscing over the early days of two sweet kids who had no idea what was in store for them.

Picking up a brown, leather album, she peaked inside. Vacation photos from the cottage. Much safer. The album was a jump in time from toddler Tessa all the way to somewhere around age 9 or 10. The lake in the photos was timeless, the same then as it was last summer when she had taken a short break from training to go up. So much was familiar in the photos – her favourite polka-dot bikini from that year, the Jays’ hat that her brother wore all the time, the inner tube that Jordan told her she was too small for and refused to share. Every few pages of photos, time would jump. They’d be a little taller. Someone would have a new bathing suit. The leaves on the trees would be just springing up or threatening to start falling. And then it was Canada Day.

They had had a big barbeque from the looks of her brothers’ eating hot dogs, decked out in red and white. The crowded photos showed friends and cottage neighbours in attendance. Tessa vaguely remembered it, but couldn’t quite separate it out from the other parties they had hosted over the years – until she flipped one more page.

The sun shone bright in the background. The dock was unchanged, the same as in all the photos. But sitting on the edge was her. Her and Scott. His right arm was draped around her shoulders (probably seconds away from pushing her into the water), but it was his left arm that she honed in on immediately. He had a maple leaf, a temporary tattoo, on his upper arm. And so did she. They matched perfectly. The sight stunned her. It was so familiar, despite not remembering that day nor having seen the photo before. Unconsciously, she found herself holding onto her arm band. Onto her soulmate mark. She glanced at the other pictures on the page, at Jordan and her friends, but none of them were wearing tattoos. Flipping forward and back, she double checked, but no one else in any of the Canada Day photos had temporary tattoos of any kind. Just them.

Slamming the book shut, Tessa leapt to her feet. Swiping her jacket off the coat rack and her purse from the floor, she dashed out with shoes untied and the photo album tucked safely under her arm.

It wasn’t a long drive to Alma and Joe’s, but she still managed it in record time. The driveway wasn’t as full of cars as it often was, but the familiar black pick-up truck she was looking for was parked right there. Throwing her car into park, she jumped out and bounded up the stairs to the front door.

Only Tessa’s very best manners kept her from pounding on the door until it opened. Instead, she knocked frantically and then waited, rocking back and forth on her heels.

“Tessa?”

Scott stood in the doorway, clearly confused. All the Team Canada gear he had been wearing the last time she saw him had been swapped for Leafs’ gear. She figured it had to be game night. Sure enough, if she strained a little she could hear it playing the background.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?” He was still blocking the entrance with his whole body. She was reminded of reading something about defensive body language in uncertain situations in one of her intro psych classes.

“Oh, yeah of course.” He ruffled his hair as he stepped back, letting the door swing open. She toed her still-untied shoes off on the mat and followed him into the living room.

“My mom’s at the rink,” he said, over his shoulder. Finding the remote, he muted the game. “Dad just went to the store. They’ll both be back in a while.”

She nodded, only partially absorbing the words as she sat down on the couch beside him. Her brain was still racing. It hadn’t stopped the whole way over.

“So. Why are you here T?” he asked again.

She practically shoved the album at him. “Look at this.”

He took the album, looked down at the cover, and then back at her. “Photos?” She nodded again. “Tess,” he sighed, “I thought you said you wanted space. How is this space?”

“Just look,” she urged.

Impatient, she reached over to open the cover for him. He swatted her hand away, giving her a funny look as the cover fell back shut.

“I’ve got it,” he insisted. Flipping open the book himself, he paused on the very first page. “These are of your family.”

“At the cottage.”

“Yeah, I can see that. What’s going on T?”

The eye roll was automatic. “Just look already.”

Page by page, he slowly examined the photos. “You know, there’s a game on right now,” he muttered.

She quickly checked the score. “They’re down by two anyways.”

“No need to rub it in.”

She chewed on her bottom lip as he flipped past page after page. His eyes scanned each photo, but nothing caused him to pause his steady pace. Another page. Another page.

His patience lasted until about half way through the book. “Okay Tess, what gives?”

“Just keep going.”

With a sigh, he plucked a beer off the table. He took a sip and then another before he carried on.

She watched carefully, knowing he was getting close. She needed to see how he reacted. If this photo was just like every other one to him, then she was wrong. Then the maple leaf tattoos were just a coincidence and didn’t mean anything. But if she wasn’t wrong, she should be able to tell immediately.

The photo was in the top left making it the first one he saw when he finally reached the right page. If Tessa had been watching his hands, she would have seen how they stilled. How his right hand fell away, no longer ready to turn the page. How his thumb grazed over the bottom corner of the photo over the plastic as if to check that it was real. But she wasn’t watching his hands. If she had been watching his chest, she would have seen him abruptly stop moving, forgetting to breath, but she wasn’t watching that either. To anyone else, his face would have shown no reaction at all. To Tessa, she saw how his jaw tightened just the smallest bit, how his breath just barely caught, how his eyes went from passive to laser focused. She was right.

The realization was enough to knock her backwards. She fell hard against the back of the couch, the pillows and shock equally saving her from injury.

“Why are you showing me this?” His voice was completely even, devoid of any obvious emotion.

Tessa wasn’t sure what reaction she had expected. She hadn’t really processed enough to have any real expectations, but she never would have guessed this total lack of response. It was so unlike him. Scott was excitable and loud and open, almost always. His first reaction to anything was never studied or quiet or controlled. It was wrong. Something was wrong.

“Scott?”

He tried to hand the still open photo album back to her, but she didn’t take it. He unceremoniously dropped it in her lap instead.

“Why are you showing me this?” he repeated. “Why are you here?”

She floundered for words for a moment. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“No. It’s not.” He didn’t even blink, not giving her an inch.

“The photo.” She absently stroked the open page. “You know what it means.”

“What I know is that you said you were done. You said you wanted space. That we needed to live separate lives. And now, four days later, you show up at my door.”

“Scott.”

All she got in response was slightly raised eyebrows asking her what she expected. It was true. She had said that. But he had to know that didn’t matter anymore.

“You aren’t seriously going to sit here and pretend you don’t know exactly what that photo shows. You can’t honestly tell me that you are going to ignore this.”

“Pretend? Ignore?” he scoffed. She couldn’t think of the last time he had actually scoffed at her not in jest. Probably it was sometime before they moved to Canton, basically a lifetime ago. “That’s rich coming from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she spluttered.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t act like – ”

Tessa’s phone cut Scott off. The Apple ringtone cut through the room as the phone vibrated in her back pocket. Hurriedly, she pulled it out, sliding to answer as she threw it against her ear.

“Hello?”

She slid the album off her lap, leaving it behind as she stood. She walked a few paces away from the couch, back to Scott, pretending it provided some semblance of privacy.

“Tessa? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she responded automatically to the same question her mother had worriedly asked her a dozen times in the last four days.

“You said you were going to be here when I got home. Instead, you aren’t here, but my living room is covered in photo albums.”

 “I’m at Alma and Joe’s,” she said by way of explanation. There was no point in reminding Kate that she was well past the years that her mother could have needed to track her whereabouts (not that tracking had ever happened as she never even lived at home as a teen). And she had forgotten to clean up the albums. Oh well.

“Oh,” Kate sighed in evident relief. “That’s great. Are you with Scott?”

Kate was easy to placate like that. Despite the last few rocky years, she didn’t think to question that Tessa might still watch a game with Scott just because.

“The Leafs’ game is on. Can I call you back tomorrow?”

“Sure, of course. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

She hung up, but hesitated instead of turning back around. She needed a moment. They both probably needed a moment. A moment to gather thoughts, a moment to breathe, a moment to focus on what was really important.

Preparation was everything. Months of preparation was how they could be confident when they took the ice at competition. It was the only thing they could do or control. Despite a lifetime of this knowledge, it was the step Tessa had forgotten for once. She had barrelled over here without a game plan. It was too late now to make one. For once in her life, for the most important moment of her life, she was winging it.

Scott had remained right where she left him on the couch. His eyes were directed back to the tv, but the tension through his body told her that he wasn’t actually absorbing what he saw. He was all in his head.

She froze. She had no idea how to start in on what should have been a happy discovery, but was apparently totally unwanted.

Sure enough, Scott stepped in to fill the silence, without even glancing in her direction. “How does this change anything?”

“How? It just does.” She wanted to curl up beside him, take his hand, and force him to look at her. She didn’t. Backing up against the wall, she gave him the space he was silently screaming for. “It changes everything.”

“It changes nothing.”

That was it. His matter of fact statement that their marks were nothing were the breaking point for her. He genuinely didn’t care.

He said something else, but her brain didn’t register the words. The shock blurred out all ability to think or process. She found herself sliding down the wall until her butt hit the ground, knees tucked in close to hide her face.

The tears didn’t come right away as she sat there, but she knew they were bound to show up sooner or later. That wouldn’t do her any good, not here, not now.

She lifted her head and caught Scott’s eye for half a second before he snapped his head back to look anywhere but at her. Real mature. Pushing off the floor, she stood back up, stance wide, ready for her last stand of the night.

“If you want me to leave, I need you to say so. I need you to tell me that this doesn’t mean anything to you.”

Now she had his attention.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He had the audacity to look her straight in the eye as he lied.

“I don’t believe you. And I don’t understand why you are doing this, but -”

“I’m trying to give you what you want!” he cut her off, his restraint finally breaking. “Why are you doing this? Why are you making this so hard? You don’t want this! Just leave.”

His eyes glistened, welling up, and she found herself moving into this space in an automatic attempt to comfort him. But he stepped back. The space between them might as well have been a mountain because she wasn’t able to cross it.

“You have no idea what I want. How could you? You won’t even acknowledge what we’re talking about.”

“It’s just a photo. This is all just about some photo that doesn’t mean anything.” The slight shake of his head did nothing to sell the words. Tessa was sure if she could just reach out and pull him closer, she would feel his heart racing like hers.

“Don’t say that. You know that’s it’s not nothing. You know what it shows.” She mustered up every last piece of courage she had. Chin up, deep breath. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“What?” His eyes grew to the size of saucers while his jaw headed for the floor.

“You heard me.” She hooked her thumb under the arm band, clear as could be.

He spluttered, taken aback and unable to respond.

“Are we on the same page yet? Or do you still want to play dumb?”

She slid the armband down the slightest fraction. That’s what it took to spur him into action. Before she knew it, his hand covered hers, stopping her in her tracks. The space between them was gone.

“Stop.” His voice cracked as he belatedly issued the unnecessary plea. The breath of the word brushed past her cheek.

“Why?” She dropped the bravado from before, but wasn’t about to let the topic drop. “You have to tell me why you don’t want me to do this Scott. You have to say it.” If he didn’t want her, despite what they were, she needed to hear him say it because it seemed unbelievable to her. Despite everything, it would make no sense, but she would accept it if he said it.

When he found his voice, his answer wasn’t what she expected.

“You can’t take this back.”

She swallowed the fear that was rising in her throat. He didn’t want to see and maybe that meant she should stop. But she couldn’t. She needed everything out on the table. “Why would I want to?”

One hand came up to cup her head. His thumb caressed her cheek and she leaned into it.

“Because if you do this, that’s it. I’m never going to be able to pretend anymore. Giving you space – I don’t know that I’ll be able to do that anymore. The last four days without you have been terrible, but if you do this and you want to go back to that, it will be unimaginably worse. So don’t do this. Don’t do this if you need space or time. Take whatever time you need now. It’s been seven years since you got your mark. I can wait longer. Wait until you’re sure this is what you want.”

Her hand rested against his chest letting her feel his heart race, the same way hers was. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.” Despite everything they had been through, it was still the truth.

She pulled her arm band down before he had time to respond. As she pulled the band out from under his grip, his hand took its place, pressing against her mark, covering it.

The wait while he took in the situation, while he decided what to do, felt like the longest wait of her life. Longer than the moment between taking her position and the start of their music. Longer than the wait for any score to be announced.

His face transformed in front of her as the seconds ticked by. Shock and disbelief fell away to be replaced by a look that was more than she could have ever imagined. It eclipsed the awe he had shown her during Mahler and it surpassed the lust during Carmen. It was both of them together, but so much more.

“I love you.” The words passed directly from his lips to hers as he tugged her close and removed any remaining space between them.

She was acutely aware of every single place they connected. Her lower lip caught between his. Her hip bones pressed up against him. His hand cradling her head, pulling her closer yet. His fingers, never letting go of their gentle grip on her arm.

She could have stayed like that wrapped up in him forever, if his fingers didn’t remind her that they needed to finish what they started.

“Scott.” She tried to get his attention between kisses, but he was fully committed to the moment. Regretfully, she pulled back and tried again. “Scott.”

She kissed him softly one more time and murmured her own declaration of love before using her free arm to remove his arm band. As the band fell to the floor, she kept her hand over his mark, mirroring his grip on her.

“Ready?”

He nodded. Together, they let go, revealing two identical silver marks at the same moment. She traced the lines, letting her finger follow them around the back of his arm. At the same time, his lips brushed against her maple leaf in a gesture that felt like the softest worship.

“Tess,” he whispered. She felt like she hadn’t heard her name pass his lips in forever. She always loved how he said her name – her many names. But this time, the wonder and joy he sunk into her name was beyond anything she had heard before.

She knew there were tears running down her cheeks, staining her shirt and dropping to the floor below. But her sob got caught up in laughter. Her happiness was too much to manifest as just one thing.

“That’s the best sound I’ve ever heard.”

She laughed harder, until he pulled her back and stopped her the best possible way.

It was so easy to get lost in him. The world felt like it fell away as she focused on his nails on her back and her fingers curled in his hair. Her legs wrapped around him and her back hit a wall. She didn’t even notice the pain.

Somehow, despite feeling fully enveloped in Scott, the sound of a car made its way to Tessa’s consciousness and caused her to pull away.

Clutching her tighter, Scott pulled her back. “Just where do you think you’re going?” he teased, lips brushing over hers.

A car door slammed shut. “Someone’s home.”

Instantly, he jumped back as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him. “Shit. There’s no way my parents can seriously be walking in on us right now.”

He frantically patted at her hair like it would make a difference in her general appearance. She did pull her shirt back down and straight though, at least so she seemed properly clothed even if her hair was beyond immediate saving. In a stroke of luck, she stepped on her arm band, reminding them to quickly put them back on.

“Let’s go.” Taking his hand, she pulled him towards the door.

“Wrong way. My bed’s upstairs.”

She gave him her best level look. “I am not having sex in Alma and Joe’s house.” He raised his eyebrows, silently reminding her of exactly what position they had been in 45 seconds before. “Not while they’re home anyways,” she amended.

“Your place?” he asked to confirm just as the front door swung open.

“Tessa!” Joe’s eyes lit up as he stepped inside and saw them right there by the door. “I thought that was your car.”

Tessa was never not happy to see Joe, but this was the closest she had ever come to regretting his presence.

“Did you just get here?” he asked. “Alma should be back in bit and she would love to see you. Scott, can you help me unload the groceries?”

“Actually,” Scott cut in, “we were just headed out.” He plucked Tessa’s coat off the hook by the door and started wrapping her up in it.

“Isn’t the game on?”

“It is, but um we need to uh –”

Mentally rolling her eyes, she cut in quick to save the poor boy from himself. “I’m craving Starbucks,” she lied.

“It’s getting pretty late. Is Starbucks even still open? You know, I can put the kettle on and make some tea.”

“That’s okay,” Scott said while shoving his feet into his boots. “We can probably make it before they close if we go right now. Right kiddo?”

“Right,” she agreed, following suit.

“Another night then,” Joe offered.

She straightened up as she zipped her jacket. “Definitely. I’ll come over again soon. I promise.”

To think that earlier that day she had been planning to avoid Scott and his house for the foreseeable future. That already seemed like a lifetime ago.

They hustled out to her car and switched on the heated seats the second she started the engine. Not wanting Alma to come home and block her in, Tessa pulled out of the driveway before the car was anywhere near warm.

As soon as she was on the main road, no immediate turns to take, she found her hand taken off the steering wheel. She let it go willingly, happy to hold his always.

Nothing from earlier in the day seemed nearly as important now. The sting of undeserved silver faded in face of the knowledge that they would be okay. That they had each other. That despite everything, they would always have each other. She didn’t need anything to tie them together. She didn’t need to imagine a life without him. She wasn’t going anywhere. She would stay right by his side for the rest of her life. They were soulmates. They still had things left to talk about, to figure out, but that part was settled. That was the part that mattered.

Soulmates. She could have lingered on that thought forever if Scott hadn’t broken her out of the moment.

“Are we really going to Starbucks?”

“No,” she said, flashing him a quick smile before turning back to the road.

“Oh, thank God.”

“Maybe just the drive-thru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! If you're still here, I adore you. I have at least one more chapter of this promised to someone (whenever I find time to write). If you want more alternate reveals, you should please let me know when in the Marked timeline you want reveals to happen. You can let me know here in comments or send me a message or ask over on tumblr: https://obviouslynotadragon.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> xoxo


	3. 2006

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Okay this chapter is an alternative to Chapter 2 of Marked. The first 1.1k are basically exactly the same (just edited a bit), but I copied them so that this alternate story starts at exactly the right place. Then you get 5.5k of totally new stuff. Welcome back to Canton 2006! Enjoy!

It wasn’t there last night. She knew it wasn’t because she had taken an extra long bath to soak and she would have noticed. But it was there now.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, carefully holding her arm in front of her face. Her housecoat had fallen to the ground, forgotten, when she had glimpsed the silver as she was putting it on.

Her soulmate mark.

It circled her whole arm. That was the most surprising part she thought. She couldn’t remember seeing or reading about marks that go all the way around before. It surely had happened, this couldn’t have been the first time. But it was not the norm.

The whole piece was a shimmering silver, flickering against her pale, pale skin as she twisted her arm in her crappy bedroom lighting. The focal point was a maple leaf. It was about the size of a toonie. It wasn’t filled in with colour, but the outline was traced twice. A double lined maple leaf. A maple leaf in a slightly larger maple leaf? Something like that. And it was the double line theme that continued around her arm. Two parallel lines stretched from the left-most tip of the leaf to the symmetrical right-most tip. Like a bracelet with a leaf in the center.

The powers that be in the universe that gave Tessa her mark also conspired to give it to her on a rare day off from training. Instead of having to rush to cover it up to get to the rink, Tessa laid back in bed, running her fingers over and over it.

She tried not to think too much about what it must mean in terms of who had the match. There was no point in going down that road. She couldn’t control fate. She might never meet her soulmate. But whoever they were, they had the same mark on them probably already. And the mark meant something to both of them.

At least part of the mark seemed easy to decipher. A maple leaf. Easy. Canadian. Even more so for her as a Canadian athlete who wore it as a logo to competitions and saw it on her flag whenever they made the podium. Most likely, that meant her soulmate was also Canadian. Not that that was a small pool of people. Or that they necessarily had to be Canadian. They could just really like trees? Not that she particularly liked trees.

She tried not to focus on who it didn’t rule out. She tried really hard not to think about how he could also have a maple leaf. She tried. And she failed.

The bracelet lines made less sense. Her first thought was that they were just artistic. But really, full arm marks were so rare that it wouldn’t really make sense for them to just be aesthetic.

Eventually, her stomach objected to her choice to postpone breakfast in favour of staring at her arm. Before she dared to venture downstairs, she knew she wanted to cover it up. After Scott had got his last year, she had gone to the mall to pick up a couple arm bands. Just so she had them whenever she needed them. Whenever had arrived.

She had a white one, a black one, and a beige one that didn’t quite match her skin tone. She put the beige one on anyways and then switched her pajama tank top for a sweater. She had a costume fitting this next week, so she would ask for several custom arm bands to be made in exactly the same colour as her skin. Just like the mesh on her outfits, except the arm bands needed to be opaque. All skaters needed them at some point though so she knew it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Her host mom was already awake and moving around in the kitchen. She knew what Tessa was like in the mornings though and didn’t try to make any small talk. She was grateful. She was still looking forward to turning 18 though when her real parents would let her get her own apartment. It wasn’t that much longer to wait. Six more months. With a bowl of granola and some yogurt, Tessa retreated back to her room.

She figured she should probably tell someone. It was kind of a big deal. A private thing, but still a big thing. Her immediate shortlist was her mom, her sister, and Scott. She wasn’t going to be home until Christmas though, and it didn’t really feel like a thing she wanted to tell her mom or sister over a phone call. Also, she didn’t even know if she was going to let them see it yet. Jordan had shown Tessa her mark, but had sworn her to secrecy. They had never talked about it except for that one day. Reciprocity wasn’t a given with soulmate marks though and Tessa wasn’t sure she wanted to share it.

As for Scott… well, if it was any other big news, he would immediately be the one she told. That was just part of being best friends and partners. This wasn’t normal news though. He had kind of told her about his right away. Basically first thing that morning, if she was generous with how she defined “told”. So she knew she should probably tell him, but the thought of telling him about her own tied her insides in knots. What was she even supposed to say?

What if he asked to see her mark? He wouldn’t, probably. She hoped. She had never once asked to see his. Hadn’t even hinted at it. But Scott was as open as she was reserved. She wouldn’t put it past him to tease her somehow or goad her into showing him. Except he wouldn’t, because this was too serious for that and surely he would realize that. She was pretty sure he would know better. Because if he asked, Tessa didn’t know how she could refuse him. And that would definitely, certainly, totally wreck everything.

She could imagine it. How his face would fall when he realized they didn’t match. Or worse, if he wasn’t upset about it at all. If he just admired the mark without caring that it didn’t match his. Because those were the only two possible outcomes. They had to be. She wouldn’t let herself think about the chance that there could be another possibility (that he would already recognize everything about her mark, having seen it on himself every day for a year). It was too remote. And it too could wreck everything. Their skating had to come first. It just had to. They didn’t talk about any alternative (except for that one time when they had and had both agreed that skating came first).

But she had to tell someone. It was too big to sit on. She was buzzing – actually shaking – from the excitement of it.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Tessa grabbed her phone and fired off a quick, one-word text.

_Hey_

She couldn’t sit still while she waited. She needed to see her mark again. She stripped her sweater back off and the arm band with it. It was still there. It couldn’t have gone anywhere – it never would – but she felt better seeing that she hadn’t imagined the whole thing.

Her phone vibrated in her lap.

_Everything ok T?_

Tessa started typing, but backspaced the whole thing. One deep breath and she tried again. She hovered over the button before committing and hitting send.

_Guess what_

The response came instantly in two parts.

_Its sunday. No guessing games_

_Tell me_

This was it. She could either move forward and tell him, or change the topic now. Last chance to back out.

She pressed ahead.

_I got my mark_

She didn’t realize she was holding her breath, waiting for a response, until so much time passed that she had to gasp in air. Disappointed, she eventually picked up her granola and started eating. Her phone lay right in front of her, eyes glued to it, so she wouldn’t miss when (if) he did respond.

Four slow bites later, her phone lit up.

_On my way_

What?

_On your way… where?_

No response.

_Scott?_

Still no response.

Maybe he hadn’t meant that text for her. She had no idea what his plans were for his day off. Maybe he was supposed to be meeting Charlie or someone and replied to the wrong person. But did he even see her text? Surely getting her mark elicited some sort of response. Even just “congrats”. Something. Anything.

Her phone stayed dark while she finished off the granola and moved onto the yogurt. She wasn’t expecting the knock on the door, so much so that she dropped the spoon, getting yogurt on her leg and the floor.

“Shit,” she muttered to herself. Louder, she added “One minute,” as she pushed herself off the ground.

A tissue made quick work of cleaning her leg, but did a less than stellar job on the carpet. For safety, she moved her dishes onto her dresser and pulled on her sweater again. The beige arm band lay forgotten in her haste on her duvet.

“Scott?”

That wasn’t who she had been expecting to see when she swung her bedroom door open. Not at all.

He didn’t give her a moment to let the surprise dissipate. Scott swept her up in his arms, kicking the door closed behind him as he moved them back into her room. One hand gently cradled the back of her head, tucking her tight into the crook of his neck, while the other arm hugged snug around her waist. Her feet dangled an inch off the ground as he spun her around.

Tessa didn’t understand what was eliciting this display, but she couldn’t help but giggle along with his infectious joy. When Scott put her down and pulled back a little, she saw he was grinning from ear to ear.

“What’s that for?” she asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

“You got your mark.” Seemingly still overcome with excitement, he pulled her back for another long hug.

“I actually know that. I’m kinda the one who told you,” she teased.

She got a deep, full body laugh in response that she felt more than heard as it reverberated through her.

“No really,” she squared off in front of him, hands still on his shoulders, “I know I got my mark. But you could have just texted me back? You didn’t need to come all the way over here.”

His grip on her slipped, downgrading it from crushing to firm. His smile a little slipped too.

“You think this is a text kind of thing?”

“Well, yeah? I just got it. I’m still not really sure what to think myself.” She gave a little shrug. Stepping back, she hopped onto her bed. She patted the spot next to her and waited until her joined her. “I mean, it’s exciting, but also, I’m not sure I want it to be a big deal? Like, publically I mean. I might hide it for a bit and keep it to myself. I’m not sure. I really haven’t decided anything. I’ve barely had it for an hour. I haven’t even decided if I want to show Jordan yet. Or tell her. At least I have some time before I go home and have to decide.”

Scott wasn’t looking at her as she spoke. Instead, some point on the back of her door seemed to have attracted his full attention while his mood sunk from joyous to somber.

“Scott?”

He turned at the soft sound of her voice. “Sorry,” he said, with a squeeze of her leg and an attempt at a smile again. “I just – ” he fumbled, looking for words. “If you aren’t excited about this, why did you text me?”

“I am excited. Just maybe a bit less than you.” She nudged his shoulder playfully. “I’m just also realistic, I guess. It’s not like my mark has my soulmate’s initials in a heart or something. So it’s exciting, and I love it – I love it so much – but the mark isn’t everything by itself. You know?”

He hummed thoughtfully in reply. “You only get one mark, T. I think you should get to bask in this for a while if you want to.”

He slung one arm around her shoulder, giving her a good squeeze as he pulled her in close. It would have been no different than any other day, except his hand landed right smack on top of where her fresh, new mark was. Her breath hitched at the realization before she immediately went back to focusing on actively being calm. It was her default state around Scott these days – studied nonchalance – and easy for her to slip into when she tried. Besides, she figured he probably didn’t even realize what he was touching (ignoring the layer of wool blend between her mark and his hand).

“Bask how?”

“Tell me about it. Tell me what you thought when you first saw it.”

“I didn’t know what to think,” she said, gathering her thoughts as she went. “I’d just woken up and it felt a bit like a dream. And the way it shimmers, it just has this ethereal quality, you know? I could have spent all day staring. I probably would still be if you hadn’t shown up.”

He smiled sheepishly, but didn’t apologize. “So you’re happy with the design?”

“I love it,” she admitted. “It’s perfect. I don’t quite understand all of it, but I love it anyways. It’s not what I imagined, but,” she considered for a moment before continuing, “I’m not sure if I had really imagined anything at all. But the reality of it, it’s just – it’s so unique.”

He chuckled softly. “Wrong adjective, T. It’s not unique. There’s a perfect match to it.”

“Somewhere,” she murmured. It was true, but she might never meet her soulmate. Or she maybe she would, but she wouldn’t know and she would just miss them.

Her hair had fallen forward and Scott took a moment to tuck it back behind her ear. “Somewhere,” he agreed, as his fingers lingered, trailing down her cheek. 

 The way he was looking at her was dangerous. It made her think things – want things – that she didn’t think she could have. It made her want to know if there was a double maple leaf on his arm too. She loathed to break the moment, as he gazed at her with such attention, but she had to think of the long term. So she shifted, letting her head rest on his shoulder, leaving her free of his gaze once again if not of his hold on and over her.

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, before he spoke again. “Tell me about what you do understand of it.” Tessa automatically stiffened, fearing he was leading up to asking to see her mark, but Scott quickly expanded. “Just generally, you don’t have to tell me specifics. Does it narrow down anything about your soulmate? You must have a smaller pool than 6 billion people now, eh?”

“Maybe a little smaller,” she laughed. He waited patiently while she took a moment to figure out how much to say, how much to reveal. “One part of it seems pretty obvious. And yeah, it narrows down the potential list. But not to any kind of a short list I could work off. There’s another component to it though that’s, um, it’s different.”

Scott gave her a gentle squeeze of encouragement to continue.

“I think my mark is different than others. Like, special. I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like what I have. And that has to mean something, right? But I don’t know what.”

“So what it sounds like to me is that we have a mystery on our hands.” His excitement was back, clearly about to bubble over.

“We?”

“Obviously.” He rolled his eyes at her. “We’re partners. This is what partners do.”

“Solve mysteries? Am I Sherlock or Watson here?” she quipped.

“No, kiddo. We help each other. We’re in this together.”

Tessa cocked her head as her eyebrows rose. He seemed unusually earnest despite talking nonsense. They weren’t in this together. It was her mark. He had his own. But she didn’t want to burst his bubble and was willing to roll with it. It was nice to have someone to share the moment with, this defining moment in her life. She couldn’t help but feel happy she got to share it with the ridiculous boy beside her.

“Okay,” she conceded. “Do you have a plan?”

“You expect me to have a plan too, not just the grand ideas? Wow, I really have to do all the heavy lifting in this partnership.”

As always, she laughed at his lame joke before she could stop herself. The way he beamed at her tugged at her heart and she had to look away.

“I think what you need is to clear your head so you can change up how you’re thinking about it. The design has to mean something to you, eh? It’s personal to you. That’s the point. It’s meant for you and your soulmate. So you can figure this out.”

“But then what?”

“What?”

With a sigh, Tessa let herself fall backwards on her bed. Scott fell with her with his arm ending up trapped beneath her shoulders. Their feet dangled just above the floor. “If I figure out what I think it means – then what? What am I supposed to do with that? Start a hunt for a soulmate that I maybe won’t meet for ten years or twenty or ever?”

“Have a little faith, T. One thing at a time.”

“Faith in what?”

He rolled onto his side so he could press his forehead against hers. He braced himself with one hand on her thigh to keep from fully rolling onto her. The angle meant that his nose ended up smushed against her cheekbone, lips angled so his breath brushed against her ear as he spoke. “The universe. Your soulmate. Yourself.”

Her breath hitched, knowing exactly why he added that last one. After years of struggling, having faith in herself was easier said than done.

“Why are you so into this?” she deflected.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s our day off. Our rare day off. Surely you had plans. A date or a game with the guys or something. But you’re here. And you’re seemingly all-in on this sudden mission to decipher my mark.”

“You deserve this, Tess. You’re my best friend. I want this for you.”

Tessa was quiet for a moment. “I don’t think you’ve ever said that before.”

“That’s ‘cause I’m an idiot. But you know it’s true.”

“You’re not an idiot,” she corrected, deflecting again away from the poignant moment. “You think head-clearing is what I need? Let’s do that.” She really felt she needed it, for reasons that had nothing to do with her mark and everything to do with how comfortable she felt lying in his arms on her bed. She sat up in a show of getting a move on.

“Let’s go skate,” he said, springing up beside her. He wasn’t giving her a moment of space to regroup as his arm slid around her waist.

“We can’t skate. We don’t have ice time booked.”

He shook his head. “No. Not skate-skate. Just skate. You know, as if we didn’t know what a choctaw was. At a public rink. Nothing fancy. Just stroking around, dodging little kids falling down. C’mon, stop looking at me like I have two heads.”

“When have we ever just skated? Why not yoga or a walk or something normal?”

“This is normal,” he insisted. “It’s too cold out for a walk –”

“Yeah but an ice rink is so warm,” she mumbled.

“ – and you know I hate yoga,” he continued on. “Just trust me on this.”

When she conceded with a nod, trusting him more than his plan, he grinned. “Great, you get dressed. I’ll go warm up my car.”

He hopped off the bed, but didn’t get two steps before he slipped, arms wind milling to save him from falling to the ground. “What the fuck?”

In exaggerated slow motion, he lifted his foot up to examine the bottom of his sock. “What the hell is this?”

It took him a minute to see Tessa doubled over with silent giggles.

“Tess?”

“It’s karma,” she managed to choke out. “For surprising me instead of texting me back.”

He raised one eyebrow, but didn’t comment further. He peeled off his sock as he glared at the offending spot of yogurt on the carpet. “Whatever. Get dressed Tutu. Let’s go.”

 

*********

 

Half an hour later, Tessa found herself lacing up her skates at an outdoor rink a stone’s throw away from the border. It was odd to be so bundled up – hat, jacket and all – but the weather called for it. A little girl in a giant helmet wiped out right in front of her as she double knotted her laces. The girl barely paused before pushing up and heading off again, heedless of her concerned mother following behind her. The rink was mostly families, broken up by a few teenaged couples and one loud group of girls a few years younger than Tessa. It was crowded. Really crowded.

“I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

“Why’s that?”

“For one, Marina wouldn’t like it. There’s a serious chance one of these little kids crashes into us and I end up with a broken leg. Then we’d have to miss Nationals and Worlds.”

Scott just scoffed. “As if I would ever let you break a leg. Don’t be ridiculous. It’s fine Tess. Trust me.”

She always did. She offered him her hand so he could pull her up off the bench. Together, they waited for a break in the crowd to step out onto the ice.

It was nothing like the skating she had become so used to. Instead of a half dozen teams, (mostly) careful and (mostly) aware of each other’s space, it was a free for all. The general pace was abnormally slow and forced them to weave in, out, and around the families and wayward children. Occasionally, they had to break apart and come back together in front of the slow movers blocking their path.

Once they got into a rhythm of stroking and avoiding downed children, Scott picked back up their conversation. “So, any thoughts yet?”

“Yeah. I never thought I would long to share ice with Meryl.”

She got the laugh from him she was looking for. “It’s not that bad. But stay on topic. We have a mystery to solve, remember?”

“I don’t know how you’re expecting me to have some sort of epiphany out here.”

“You’re Tessa Jane McCormick Virtue. You’re brilliant and talented and surely you can manage a little skating and thinking at the same time.”

She threw him a sidelong glance to find him watching her back. “You’re pretty sappy today, Moir.”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s all true. Now focus, kiddo. Think. You have to match up what you don’t understand with some integral part of you. Something you are or something you love.”

She tried to think. She really did. But she kept getting pulled out of her head and back into the moment she was living in. As much as skating was engrained in her to be automatic, she found herself focusing on it anyways. On the feel of her gloved hand in his. On the wind slowing them down slightly as they skated straight into it. On the cut of her blade into the ice as she skirted another young couple.

The rink started to thin out a little as people moved off the ice. Tessa noticed a guy around their age directing people off and pointed him out to Scott. To her surprise, Scott pulled her over to the guy instead of taking the hint to get off.

“Hey, could we actually have two minutes when everyone clears off before you resurface? We’re skaters and we’d just like to do a run through real quick.”

The guy looked them over, assessing them. “Nothing that’s going to end in a cracked head on the ice, right?”

With their assurance that there would be no blood to clean up, the guy gave in. They skated a couple more quick laps as the rest of the stragglers made their way off.

“Waltz?” A compulsory was the quickest and least risky thing they could do in their two minutes of stolen ice time.

“Sure,” Tessa agreed.

And then they were off, finally flying across the ice for the first time that day. The chatter and the noise faded away in her mind, memory filling in for the absent music. It was settling to be in his arms on the ice, like it was where she belonged. He shadowed her and spun her and guided her deeper into her edges. But it ended too soon and she came back to their surroundings, the unfamiliar outdoor rink, to be met by a smattering of applause from the benches.

The hustled off the ice as Scott waved his thanks for holding off the Zamboni for them. Just as she stepped onto the matted ground, he spun her around one more time, to face back towards the ice.

“Can you find ours?” he gestured at the marked ice as the Zamboni began to drive over down the centre, erasing their presence.

She pointed right in front of them and followed the lines down the length of the rink. “The deep ones.”

He pulled her in closer by the waist. “Yeah. The ones with an actual pattern to them. The ones that match.”

“You can actually see even from earlier. The long strokes are ours.”

A particularly cold gust of wind rushed by causing Tessa to shiver.

“You’re freezing.” He pulled her closer yet for a full body hug as he squeezed tight. “You should have said something,” he murmured. “Let’s get you out of here and warmed up. Lunch?”

“Takeout?” she countered.

“Whatever you want T.”

They hurried over to their shoes and begun unlacing their skates. Tessa watched as she slipped back into her boots as the last trace of their skate was wiped off the ice.

 

***********

 

It wasn’t until they were back on Scott’s couch, Thai food spread out on the coffee table in front of them, that he picked back up on his theme of the day.

“Did skating manage to shake loose any new ideas?”

She hummed noncommittally, not taking her eyes off the tv. In honour of her mark, Scott had let her pick the movie with no limits, meaning she obviously picked Pride & Prejudice.

“Is that a yes?” He poked her with his foot. Again. And again. So determined to get her attention that she gave in and kicked him.

“Shh, it’s the introduction to Darcy. You can’t talk through the ‘miserable half’.”

She didn’t need to look to know he rolled his eyes.

The truth was yes, she did have an idea. A terrible idea. An idea that was taking hold and sinking in and completely preventing her being able to focus on the public ball scene that she loved so much.

Her mind was still back on the outdoor rink. She sometimes took it for granted, but it always felt so right to be on the ice. With Scott. Only with Scott. It would never be the same without him. And his words, which she had barely registered at the time, had lodged themselves in the forefront of her thoughts. _Some integral part of you. Something you are or something you love._ She knew what fit that description, but that wasn’t what was eating at her.

He had said that. He was the one who suggested skating, insisted on it when she brushed off the idea. And the way he had come running straight to her when she texted him. The look on his face when he had shown up at her place. When she put all the pieces together, it painted a picture that she couldn’t ignore. She had figured it out in the car. It really didn’t take long once she sat down and spent half a second thinking about it.

He thought they were soulmates. And more than that, he was excited about it. That was more important to her. He wanted to be with her. That was the terrible idea because if she was somehow reading this wrong, and he was only interested conditional on them being soulmates, and he got the soulmate part wrong, then everything could come crumbling down real fast.

“Your food’s getting cold, Tess. Eat something.”

“Oh right.”

She tried to focus back in on the movie that she had hardly noticed, but in doing so forgot to actually eat anything until chicken and chopsticks appeared right in front of her. She took the offered bite and the second reminder to actually feed herself. Picking up her own chopsticks, she dug in.

By the time they had both finished eating, they had migrated on the couch to eliminate any space between them. She was again curled up against Scott’s side, his arm around her so his hand rested again over her mark. His gentle grip refused to let her forget about what was potentially right in front of them.

It took until they reached Pemberley for Tessa to come to a decision with herself. With the possibility she had forbidden herself to hope for lying right in front of her, she couldn’t stop herself. She had to go for it. Pausing the movie, she turned.

“Scott.” She made sure she had his full attention. She couldn’t help but smile before she even got the words out. “Can I show you my mark?”

“Of course,” he replied instantly. “Absolutely. But first, could you tell me why you want to show me? I’d like know why.” He took hold of her wrist, caressing it with him thumb.

“You’re my best friend.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“And you’ll still be my best friend no matter what, right?”

“Yeah, T.”

“That’s why.”

She gave him a soft smile and before she could change her mind, she pulled her sweater over her head, leaving her in just a black sports bra. In her rush to get dressed for skating, she hadn’t bothered to put the arm band back on. Her mark shone against her skin. Still so new, she wanted to admire it herself, but needed to see his reaction more.

A stillness settled over him. His hand twitched, as if he wanted to reach for her. She reached for him instead, twining her fingers with his.

“What do you think?” she asked softly.

He didn’t take his eyes off the mark, but he cradled the back of her head, tangling his fingers into her hair.

“It’s perfect.” He fought to keep emotion out of his voice, but a single tear betrayed him.

“I think so too.”

“Did you figure out what it all means?” He nodded towards her mark that he was hesitant to touch.

“My mark? No. I figured something else out.”

“What’s that?”

“I think you like me.”

He stared at her for a long second in confused shock before a laugh burst out. The butterflies in her stomach morphed into a bit of despair about to envelop her in the moment before he gathered his wits. “That’s the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard. Tess, I don’t maybe like you. I’m head over heels in love with you.”

 _Oh_.

He loved her. She never would have dared to hope for that much.

“You love me? Even before you saw my mark?”

“Of course,” he said, pulling her close.

His lips brushed over hers, teasing as if this moment hadn’t been built up for years already in her head. There would be other days for taking it slow. This wasn’t one of them. She captured his top lip between hers and then she was kissing him. Actually kissing him. Finally. Their kiss was perfect, slow and deep, passionate and intimate. It was unsurprising to her that a first kiss could be so good, not because most were, but because they were them. Tessa and Scott. This was right. It was meant to be.

With that thought, she remembered that there was something else that needed to be settled. She broke apart from him and they took a second to come back to earth before she spoke.

“I may not know what my mark means, but you think you do, right? That’s what today was.”

He nodded, but didn’t offer anything further.

“Can I see your mark?”

He swallowed hard before nodding again. “Yeah, Tess. You’re the only person I’d show.”

She reached for his arm band, and his hand covered hers, so they slid it off together. Shimmering on his arm was a perfect, silver match to her mark. Maple leafs and bracelet lines.

“You knew we matched, didn’t you?”

She ghosted her fingers over his silver lines. He mirrored her, finally reaching out to touch her mark.

“Yeah, I’ve known what our mark means for a year. A year exactly, actually. I got my mark a year ago today. That’s how long I’ve known.”

Tessa’s jaw fell. “Really?”

 _Our mark._ Those were the best two words.

“Yeah. How’s that for fate? I thought I would have to wait another year for you. But this is so much better.”

“You wouldn’t have had to wait at all, you idiot, if you had just said something.”

“ _Oh_.” She could see him replaying the last year in his mind’s eye. “I had no idea. I never thought – I didn’t know – you never seemed interested.”

“Am I supposed to seem interested in a guy who's dating everyone _except_ me?”

Before he had an opportunity to respond, a bad thought appeared that she probably should have remembered earlier. A very bad thought.

“Scott.” She could feel herself blanching. “Do you still have a girlfriend? That girl, the one you were going to the Red Wings game with a few weeks ago?”

He shook his head, but a blush creeped into his cheeks. “No, I ended that.”

He wasn’t telling her everything. “When?”

She could see him chewing on the words, deciding whether to tell her the truth. As if she wouldn’t know if he didn’t. “This morning,” he admitted.

“You were with her this morning?” That was an imagine Tessa didn’t need in her head, even if she had never actually seen this girl. Tessa waking up with her mark while Scott woke up with someone else.

“No, I wasn’t. I swear. I texted her.”

“You texted her?” Tessa parroted.

“Yeah, I mean. I know how that sounds. But we’d only gone out a couple of times anyways. And when you texted me, I knew I needed that to be finished immediately. I didn’t want to try to call her at ten in the morning when it was more important to get to you.”

She took all this in. He at least looked properly ashamed of his less than stellar actions. And it’s not like either of them knew that this was about to happen. She had her own exs too, even if they weren’t quite so immediate. “Okay. How about we never mention that again?”

“Please,” Scott agreed with evident relief.

“But promise me one thing first.”

“Anything.”

“Never break up with me over text,” she deadpanned.

He laughed, leaning in again. “I can do one better. I can promise that I won’t break up with you at all.”

He kissed her again before she could argue against his ability to make that promise so easily so soon. Except it wasn’t really that soon, not for them. She had already moved away with him twice – once to a whole different country. And they were soulmates. So she let herself be distracted. Very distracted. For a good long time before they eventually parted.

It wasn’t unusual for her to be this close to him, but up to this point, she never had the ability to touch him freely. She took advantage of the moment as they caught their breath. She brushed over his cheekbones and jawline, noting how the latter made him gasp when she used her nail. She traced the line of his nose, leaning back in to kiss the tip.

“So.” She nuzzled her nose against his. “What now?”

“That depends. I mean, we have six months before your birthday, so we should probably wait at least that long to get married.”

“Married?” she spluttered. “Scott, I’m seventeen! We can’t get married!”

“That’s exactly what I just said.” He tugged at her earlobe. “Are these things turned on?”

She laughed. “We’re too young to be talking about marriage.”

“How old do you think you should be? Twenty? Twenty-five? Please don’t say thirty. I don’t want to have to wait ‘til I’m thirty one to marry you.”

“You don’t think you’re maybe rushing things just a little? We’ve been together for all of ten minutes –”

“Closer to thirty,” he corrected.

“– And this is literally everyone’s worst nightmare, remember? This is the one thing everyone has always told us to avoid at all costs. Skating first. Dating never.”

His fingertips skimmed under her jaw to tilt her head up towards him. “Everyone was wrong, T. We were wrong. This is right.”

“I know,” she whispered against his lips as they came together again.

“You never did answer my question,” he reminded her some time later as she perched in his lap. “How long do you want me to wait before I ask you to marry me?”

“Um, I think you just did,” she teased.

“Nope. Trust me, this is not how I ask Tessa Virtue to marry me, half clothed on a second hand couch. No, my soulmate gets more than this. So give me an idea of how long you want to wait so I can get planning.”

He waited patiently as it sunk in for her just how serious he was. This was it. Seventeen years old and the stars had aligned for them. With near certainty, she could actually plan her life with the boy in front of her and that thought was completely overwhelming.

She curled into him, needing a moment. His lips pressed against the crown of her head while he stroked her back.

He check in after a couple minutes. “You okay?”

She hummed affirmatively. “It’s just a lot, you know? Could you maybe ask me that next year?”

She peeked up, making sure he wasn’t taking it was a rejection. Instead, she saw a softness to him, a quiet, calm understanding. It felt like a glimpse of the man he might become if he just settled down a little bit.

“Sure T. Whatever you need. I can check in with you next year, and the year after that and the year after that.”

“We have our whole lives. Let’s just take it slow and enjoy it.”

He trailed a hand down her spine causing her to rock into him. “Slow is fine with me. As long as you’re in my arms, our lives are looking pretty damn good to me.”

“That’s the only place I ever want to be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is as fluffy to you as I think y'all deserve. I have one more chapter of this plotted, but since it isn't a request from anyone, I may put it on the back burner. For real, if you want specific chapters here, tell me. I live in both the comments here and over on tumblr at: https://obviouslynotadragon.tumblr.com/
> 
> xoxo
> 
> p.s. in this timeline, I totally believe S actually gives T her P&P fd


	4. 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an alternative to Chapter 5 of Marked. The first sentence here exactly links up with Marked about halfway through that chapter. T and S have gone to dinner, decided to come back to competition, have had quite a few drinks, and are back at his place for the night half dressed and getting ready for bed.
> 
> Many thanks to peacefulboo, who graciously lent me her fabulous beta skills. She convinced me that this whole thing didn't need to be scrapped and also fixed half my typos. She's the best <3
> 
> Welcome back to Ilderton 2015.

Still giggling, Tessa placed her toothbrush beside the sink and went to curl up in his bed, but got pulled back before she got to the bathroom door.

“What are you doing?”

Scott snaked one arm around her waist, pinning her against his chest. “Stay.”

She couldn’t help but sigh contentedly at his low and breathy tone, relaxing back into him. “Kay.”

Sleepy and tipsy, she let her eyes close and her weight rest against him while he brushed his teeth. When he shifted to get at the sink, she slipped her arms around his back, clasping her hands together to keep her from getting displaced.

She heard his toothbrush settle back into its holder before his second arm joined his first. Neither of them made to move, content to stand there pressed together in the quiet bathroom.

“I’ve missed you too. Just by the way.”

She cracked one eye open and he shrugged in response to her silent inquiry. “At dinner you said that you, umm, and I just thought I should uh, you know, tell you I feel the same.”

Her heart squeezed. The boy could be the sweetest at the most unexpected of moments. “What do you miss?” she asked.

“I miss how irrationally grumpy you are in the mornings.”

“That’s it?” She raised an eyebrow, incredulous. “That’s all you miss about me?”

“Not all, no.” But he didn’t expand.

“Well, I just miss you driving for me.”

“I miss you packing for me,” he countered.

“Only because you always forget something important if I don’t do it for you. I miss you cooking for me.”

“Only because you’re starving without me.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.” He pinched her side causing her to squeal and squirm, but his grip held tight. She pouted at him, indignant at the treatment. (She could have broken out if she wanted to, but she didn’t.) “I don’t miss that pout. But I do miss making you laugh.”

She gave him a small smile at that, again taking in the picture of them in the mirror. She looked like she was built to fit precisely in his arms. The only thing that ruined the picture for her was his arm band. Hers blended in perfectly, but his insistence on only wearing black bands always marred his arm.

“I miss your arm.” The half-baked thought slipped out before she could stop it. She winced at how stupid it sounded, closing her eyes again to avoid his reaction.

“Just one of my arms?” he laughed. He squeezed her tighter. “Which one?”

She shook her head. “Forget it. I’m drunk. I clearly need to go to sleep.”

“Avoidance? That means you actually meant something. Fess up Virtch.”

“It’s stupid. Trust me. Too many shots.”

“Tell me.” Unwilling to let it go, he kept at her like an overexcited child. “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Teeeeess, tell me!”

She groaned, knowing she wasn’t getting out of it now that he had latched on. If she were more sober, she might have been able to come up with a better (less weird) explanation than the real one, but that wasn’t the case. Turning in his arms, she buried her head against his distractingly bare chest so she wouldn’t have to face him.

“I was just thinking…” She trailed off, not quite willing to finishing that sentence.

“Come on. C’mon, c’mon.”

“I was just thinking that I hadn’t seen your arm in forever and how it’s kind of weird.” The words spilled out quickly, running together enough that she hoped he wouldn’t hear.

No such luck.

“You – you miss my arm?” It was like he choked on the words trying to get them out.

“Yeah, well you miss my morning ire, so who’s weirder here?”

“Don’t change the topic.”

She tried one last time to get out of the conversation. “I’m so tired. Can we just go to bed?”

Facing no immediate resistance, she backed up towards the door. One step. Two. He grabbed her wrist to stop her from taking a third.

“Tess.”

She exhaled. She exhaled until all the air in her lungs was gone, replaced it with a deep breath, and then let it all out in one long go. “I’m sorry. We don’t talk about this. I know we don’t talk about this. But your stupid arm band is just there – right there – all the time. And it’s been a decade. Do you realize it has been a whole decade? Ten years since I’ve seen your arm. And that’s just _so_ strange. There’s this piece of you that I don’t know at all and I really need to go to bed now because we don’t talk about this and it’s all silly anyways and we have a big day tomorrow with calling Patch and Marie –”

The only way to cut Tessa off was to talk over her.

“You never asked.”

“What?” She was having a hard enough time following her own ramblings that his words didn’t quite register with her.

“You never asked to see it.”

“Obviously not.” Her brow furrowed. “I’d never be that rude. How could you think I would be that rude?”

“Rude?” he echoed.

She rolled her eyes. “I know Alma taught you perfectly well that you can’t just go around asking people about their marks. It’s _rude_. And since when am I ever that rude? Except for now apparently, but that’s only because of the shots and the wine and you won’t let me sleep, so really this is all your fault.”

At some point in her rambling, Scott let go of her wrist to bury his head in his hands. The heels of his hands pressed into his eyes as the palms massaged his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot when he finally looked at her again, still tensely running his hands through his hair.

“Tess. What the fuck are you saying right now?”

She blinked. “I honestly don’t know,” she shrugged.

“You think it’s rude to mention my mark?”

“It _is_ rude.”

“And that’s the only reason you have never brought it up?”

She could have lied to him, but he probably wouldn’t have bought it anyways, so she didn’t even try. “No. It’s not the only reason.”

“What other reasons, T?” He crossed his arms as he leaned back against the edge of the bathroom counter. The action brought his arm band a little more central, a little harder to ignore, and it bugged her.

“Why do I need to list reasons? You’re not any different. You’ve never brought it up either.”

He rushed to defend himself. “Why would I waste my breath bringing it up when you never even told me when you got your mark? That said everything.” The statement hung in the air between them, revealing and accusing. Tessa wasn’t able to fully comprehend the scope of it before he continued. “It’s like you pretend you don’t even have one and practically flinch anytime some mentions marks. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that. And yeah, I don’t go around purposely trying to upset you, so no, I didn’t bring it up because it was pretty clear you didn’t want me to.”

“Well I took my cues from you. You didn’t tell me you got yours – you just strutted around in that ridiculous t-shirt in fucking November to get me and everyone else to notice.”

He made to interrupt, but Tessa held up a hand and barrelled on. “No. You’ve never shown anyone, Scott. Not your mom or brothers. Not any one of your girlfriends. And you come whining to me about it every time they ask about it. What in there is supposed to suggest to me that you’d want to show me? What would make it worthwhile to bring it up? You would’ve probably just turned around and complained to someone else about me. You clearly have never wanted to actually show anyone – you just like reminding everyone that it’s there all the damn time with that stupid black arm band.” She emphasized her point with a final flourish of her hand towards the offending band.

She caught her breath, but it felt like there was no room to breathe in the too small bathroom. Scott seemed similarly stunned. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.

The moment broke when Scott abruptly snapped his mouth closed and broke eye contact to squeeze his eyes shut. With a little hop, he sat up on the bathroom counter, sliding his butt backwards until he hit the mirror. He curled up, head in hands between his knees.

“Scott?” Worried, Tessa stepped forward and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. “You okay? Are you going to be sick?”

She rubbed big, gentle circles on his back and waited.

“What can I get you?” she asked after a minute. “Water? Gravol? What do you need?”

He sat up to face her, displacing her hand in the process. He didn’t look sick. He looked serious and sad. So sad that it automatically made her sad too even if she didn’t exactly know why.

“I’m going to need you to repeat a few things, I think.”

Feeling the length of the night, she deflated. “No. I’m tired. It’s late. I need a bed. No more talking. Okay? Or do I need to call a cab to head back to my place?” It would be a pain in the ass, but she would do it. She wasn’t in any way prepared for whatever it seemed he wanted to dig into tonight.

He shook his head. “Stay.”

“I need that charger,” she reminded him.

“It’s sitting on my bed.”

Humming her thanks, she went to grab it and he followed her out. Plucking the charger off his duvet, she spun to find herself nearly walking right into him.

“Where are you going now?” he asked exasperated.

“The guest room.”

He shook his head again. “Stay,” he murmured.

That was all it took for her to find herself tucked in beside him with the covers pulled up to her chin. She was just about to drift off when he piped up again.

“I’m sorry.”

It was too much. He put too much into two little words as if apologizing for a lifetime. It was more than one drunken argument about she-was-too-tired-to-quite-remember-what called for, but heavy sleep pulled her under before she could examine that thought further.

 

***

 

The waking up process was a slow one. It took time to find the willpower to open her eyes, to sit up, to accept the groggy, painful consequences of a night of shots and emotions. There was a glass of water waiting on the nightstand that Tessa gratefully chugged before pulling herself up and out of bed. She grabbed herself a pair of sweatpants, but couldn’t be bothered to fix the rat’s nest that her hair had likely become overnight.

Leaving the bedroom door ajar, she wandered out to first hear Scott softly talking to someone before she came in view of him on the couch with his phone. He had thrown on a dark grey heather t-shirt, almost matching her outfit exactly. As soon as he noticed her, he gave her a soft smile and nodded towards the kitchen where she saw a fresh pot of coffee waiting. She beelined to it. At the same time she pulled her favourite red mug out of the cupboard, the bedroom door closed.

She made herself at home on the now vacant couch with her coffee and curled up with a throw blanket. The tv was already on, just muted, showing sports highlights. Sipping slowly, the fog around her hungover brain began to clear. The comeback. His mark. Shots. The night had been a lot and she was paying for it and not quite up to emotionally processing all of it quite yet.

By the time Scott reappeared, she was down to her last few sips. He headed straight into his kitchen without a word and started pulling out bowls and ingredients. Tessa waited for an acknowledgement of her continued presence in his home, but it never came. Softly, she came up beside him as he worked, rinsed out her empty mug, and put it in the dishwasher.

“Umm,” she started, talking at his back. “I guess I’ll get going.” Her first words of the morning.

“If you’re leaving, who am I making these pancakes for?” He finally turned around and crooked one eyebrow at her.

Oh. He watched with a satisfied smirk as she hopped up onto one of the stools at his breakfast counter before turning back to his carton of eggs. She watched him in turn as he worked, moving confidently through his kitchen with no recipe in sight. When the caffeine kicked in and her head stopped pounding, Tessa contributed to the cooking process by throwing on an 80s playlist – it earned her another silent, questioning eyebrow which she ignored.

Eventually a plate appeared in front of her, two small pancakes attached to a larger one.

“Always Mickey, never Minnie,” she muttered.

“What was that?” He had heard her just fine.

She passed him the syrup when she finished pouring. “Minnie’s great.”

“Her bow’s too hard. You try making it out of batter.”

Between the food and the hangovers, breakfast was a quiet affair. She took his plate when they finished and started in on the dishes.

“Awake enough to talk yet?” He took each item from her as she finished rinsing it to put it in the dishwasher.

She nodded. “After a night of mediocre sleep, has anything changed? Are you still in for a comeback?”

“Absolutely. And I’m absolutely still in for the comeback.”

“You answered me twice,” she laughed. “I got it with the first absolutely.”

“You asked two questions.” He plucked the measuring spoon from her before she could put it in the drying rack to dry off and put away.

Pulling the plug out of the sink, she gave him a side eye. “What’s changed if you’re still in for the comeback?”

“Lots of things.” He tried to defuse her glare at his obtuseness with a winning smile. It only half worked. “I think we both owe each other some answers.”

She couldn’t deny that, even if she maybe still wanted a second reprieve. “I’m going to need more coffee.” That bought her another couple minutes to brace herself before they found themselves back on the barstools facing each other, nothing left to delay it. He was the one pushing for the conversation, so Tessa was content to wait and let him start.   

Seemingly prepared, he dove right in. “You’ve never once brought up my mark since the day I got it – until last night. Why?”

“Yeah. I told you why. It’s not my business, Scott. It’s rude. And it seemed pointless since you didn’t like anyone else mentioning it anyways.” She didn’t give an exhaustive list of the reasons, but it was enough.

“Right, you said that. But that’s all garbage, T.”

She flinched. “Excuse you?”

“You’re comparing yourself to everyone else, but why the hell would you do that?” She didn’t have an answer for him fast enough. “You bought up my girlfriends, that I never showed them my mark. Do you think you’re less important to me than every girlfriend I’ve ever had? Than _any_ girlfriend?”

“What does it even matter?” she countered with a shake of her head.

“It matters. So do you?”

She couldn’t possibly answer that. “What do you expect from me? Do you really expect me to say that I’m more important than every single girlfriend? Than Kaitlyn? I like Kaitlyn. She’s fun and sweet and –”

“We broke up.”

Tessa froze. Scott froze. The whole world could have frozen in that instant for all she knew.

And then it unfroze just as suddenly.

“What the hell do you mean you broke up?”

“We broke up.” It could have been reading the phone book for all the emotion he was showing over the apparent end of his long term relationship.

“No. Last night you said you had been discussing things with her and that things might not be going great, but you sure as hell didn’t say you broke up.”

“Yeah.”

“So then you’re together.”

“No. I called her this morning.”

That’s who he had been on the phone with. She started to put the pieces together. Or so she thought. “And she broke up with you because of the comeback?”

“No, T. I broke up with her.”

“You didn’t have to do that. You already do long distance, the move wouldn’t have changed anyth-”

“TESS!” He gripped her shoulders, squaring her to him. He slid off his stool in the process to stand right up against her knees. “Are you purposely being obtuse right now? Are you messing with me?” She blinked back at him. “You’re not messing with me. You still don’t get it. How do you not get it?

“You’re the only person I would ever show my mark to, Tess. You.” He softened as he spoke and she mirrored him. His grip turned into a caress and her hands came to his waist to brace herself against him. “I never showed anyone else because I hadn’t even shown you and you’re the absolute most important person to me. Even if I’ve been crap at showing it lately or ever or always. Everyone else ranks below you. Who could possibly rank higher? How could any girlfriend compete with the girl who chose me when I was nine and stuck by me through every boneheaded thing I’ve done since then?”

It was the same way she felt about him. Exactly the same. He hadn’t left her even after two surgeries that hadn’t worked. He had been her most important relationship since she was seven years old. But somehow, she hadn’t ever thought he felt the same way. He had always been older and more talented. He had friends and girlfriends and a whole life she was never quite a part of. He never seemed like he needed her the way she needed him.

“Not always,” she amended. “I’ve barely even seen you outside of tours lately. And I know it’s been hard for you, but I didn’t step up like I should have.”

“You’re here now, T. And I’m here now. Yeah, we’ve had bad times. But we always end up right back here. You and me.”

He wasn’t wrong, but it was a lot. She reached up and took his hand in comfort while she tried to work out where his train of thought was going to take them. She squeezed and he squeezed back.

“Apparently I’m already ten years late with offering, and I’m sorry for that. Tess, I got my mark. Do you want to see it?”

“Yes.”

Scott seemed shocked at how quickly she answered him. He wasn’t alone. The answer had just appeared on Tessa’s lips with no input at all from her brain. If she had thought it through, they probably would have grown old while she cycled all the possible outcomes. How it could impact them. How it could impact the comeback. How it would probably change everything in some indescribable way that she couldn’t quite fathom. She knew there was only one real outcome – a beautiful yet strange mark on his arm – but she still didn’t know if she needed that to be so concrete and clear in front of her. She had told herself long ago that she didn’t need to know what his mark was. She had told herself that over and over. And yet, the refrain had never stuck. And here they were.

Doubt flashed in his eyes, or it could have just been the reflection of her own. But he definitely hesitated. The speed of this conversation had finally caught up to him.

“You don’t have to,” she rushed to add.

He leaned forward and pressed a long kiss against her forehead. Her eyes slipped close, taking in the unexpected moment.

“I want to,” he whispered.

A slow caress of her cheek encouraged her to open her eyes again. For once, she wasn’t greeted by the sight of that stupid black arm band. In its place shone a silver double maple leaf, lines extending from either side around the pale patch of his arm.

It wasn’t possible. It was a dream. Tessa felt sure it had to be. She knew if she reached out, it would disappear, dissolve into the air. She would wake up. She didn’t want that. But she reached out anyways and her fingers brushed solid flesh. Nothing dissolved. She could trace the silver and it didn’t wipe away. It was real.

Scott didn’t stop her. He didn’t flinch or pull back or retreat under her examination. “I never wanted to hide it from you, Tess. I’m sorry that I made you feel like I did. I never wanted that. I’ll follow your lead here, whatever you want, but this has always belonged to you.”

“We match.” The words were wholly insufficient, but it was all she could come up with.

“We do.”

He caught a stray tear right before it slid off her chin and then another as it raced down her cheek. In the height of the emotion, it took her a minute before she realized he hadn’t meant it as a question. It was a statement. He knew.

“How do you already know that?” Her arm band was still firmly in place, half hidden under the sleeve of his t-shirt she wore. He couldn’t possibly know.

She looked up at him as his smile started to fall away, replaced by uncertainty. “The same way you know.”

She shook her head. “I’ve known for all of two minutes and I’m still not entirely convinced I’m awake right now.”

“You didn’t know?” His own question seemed to knock the wind right out of him. He bumped into the stool behind him and sat down hard.

“How did you know?” she asked right back.

Their physical connection had broken which seemed unimaginable given the current moment. She took his hand, gripping hard to ground herself to him. In the shock and confusion and emotion, he could still be her anchor. His other hand came up to cover hers.

“I’ve always known, Tess. It’s obvious. It’s us.”

“I didn’t know.” It sounded weak to her ears, but it was true. It wasn’t obvious to her. But if he had known, that changed everything. It put everything in a new light. He had a million opportunities over the years to have said something and he never did. Or she hadn’t noticed. She hadn’t know. But he had.

“That’s why you broke up with her this morning.” It was the smallest piece of the puzzle in the scheme of everything, but the first one that fit.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I thought – but umm, it doesn’t mean, or, uh, it doesn’t have to mean –” He almost never stammered. He looked at her hopelessly, willing her to understand what he couldn’t quite say. “I don’t want to assume or pressure you,” he finally said, “but I just wanted you to know that I’ll do whatever you want here. That I’m in for whatever you are. And I couldn’t say that if…” If he was still with Kaitlyn.

This was more than Tessa could have ever predicted two days ago when she texted him about dinner. It was more than she ever let herself hope for. And she couldn’t just dive right in. But the little pieces of their future that she could start to imagine were looking glorious.

“Let’s take things slow,” she said. “We have a lot to sort out. And it’s us. You and me. We need to do this right.” She slipped off her stool and stepped into his space, looking for reassurance from him.

“We have time to sort this out. Tons of time. We’ll still have the comeback, right?” He seemed afraid. He needed her reassurance that she wasn’t taking the comeback away from him. That she wasn’t going to just disappear. As if she could ever do that now. As if she would want to. There was nowhere she would rather be than with him, especially on the ice. He was her soulmate.

“Of course.” She hugged him, hands tangling in his hair and shirt, until he relaxed into her grip and held her back. Her cheek pressed into the top of his head as his lips brushed against her collarbone. “Of course,” she repeated.

His heart was racing and she could feel his tears soaking into her shirt. He was as emotionally wrecked as she was. It was a lot, all of it. They were soulmates. But he’d just broken up with his girlfriend. And they’d just decided to go for another Olympics. And they were soulmates.

She couldn’t sort everything out in that moment. It was too much. Too many puzzle pieces to sort through in her mind. But she knew one little way she could make things better for him right then.

“Hey Scott?” She traced his ear as he sat back and looked up at her.

“Yeah T?”

“Do you want to see my mark?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Thanks to everyone who sent requests in last time. I have a bunch kicking around now to be written eventually. This particular chapter was requested by a lovely anon on tumblr and I was thrilled that someone else also wanted me to write this scene as it was on my personal list. 
> 
> Y'all are all sweet for still hanging out in this universe with me. <3


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